Over the years, because of his status as one of the two best basketball players of all time, LeBron James has been an easy lightning rod for criticism. Sometimes, it's been warranted. Sometimes, the criticism has gone a little too far, particularly in this mass media "hot take" day and age.

According to long-time ESPN personality Michael Wilbon, there was actually a point where James had a surprising person in his corner. Of course, I'm referring to the legendary Michael Jordan, of whom James has been incessantly compared to since before he even became an NBA superstar. And I say "surprising," given the eternal GOAT (greatest of all time) debate that Jordan and James are often at the center of in hoops conversations.

During Wednesday's episode of First Take, Wilbon, a native Chicagoan who covered Jordan's heyday with the Bulls, claimed that Jordan made a point of speaking to him about taking it easy on James after the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2010 Eastern Conference playoffs.

Having been in that position of playoff disappointment during his career with the Chicago Bulls, Jordan understood precisely what kind of pressure the 25-year-old James was dealing with in that tough moment. If anyone knows what it's like to be hyped up so much and fall short of the greatness seemingly everyone expects of you, it's the version Jordan who couldn't overcome the "Bad Boy" Detroit Pistons before the advent of the Bulls' 1990s dynasty. Jordan knew the intense scrutiny James would endure and didn't want him to dwell on his shortcomings.

Now, this is an interesting wrinkle in Jordan's and James' relationship I didn't quite expect:

"If people think Jordan has somehow resented LeBron, they're wrong." Michael Wilbon recalls Jordan telling him to "take it easy" on LeBron after losing to the Celtics in the 2010 playoffs. pic.twitter.com/RqrvxLGZAR

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 29, 2026

Here's what Wilbon said about that conversation with Jordan in copy:

“I remember having a conversation with Michael [Jordan] who said, ‘Hey, take it easy. When you talk about this tomorrow, take it easy on this kid [James]. And here’s why.’ And Michael had a list of reasons of things that he really liked about LeBron James,” Wilbon said. “He didn’t have to do that! But he understood what was going to go on publicly because he had been on the other end of that early in his career.”

This story is a good reminder of what we should keep in mind any time we engage in a "water-cooler" conversation about the greatest NBA players. Even though they're still incredibly competitive, men like Jordan and James consider themselves to be part of an elite brotherhood that is above the noise. That's because people in a brotherhood tend to look out for one another.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Michael Jordan stumped hard for young LeBron James, says ESPN analyst